This Lime Cordial is a versatile and sweet drink mixer with a tart edge.
It’s perfect mixed with water for a refreshing summer drink, or use it to make Lemon Lime and Bitters or your favourite cocktail.
What limes make the best cordial?
Here, I’ve used the limes most commonly found in Australian supermarkets – the Tahitian or Persian lime. Though I was lucky enough to receive these lovely limes from my mum’s neighbours.
Makrut limes are popular in cooking, however they have very little juice so are not the best option for making cordial.
Other lime varieties you could try include the West Indian or Mexican lime, Finger limes and the Australian Desert lime.
Making lime cordial
You’ll need about six limes to make this recipe, a couple more if they’re on the smaller side.
You juice the limes and remove the zest from two of the limes.
The recipe calls for tartaric acid to be mixed with the juice. This helps with the flavour and preservation. You can substitute citric acid, however tartaric acid is preferred and can be found at large supermarkets and smaller, boutique food stores.
In Australia, I buy tartaric acid from my local IGA.
The sugar and water are then combined with the zest in a saucepan and heated to dissolve the sugar completely.
It’s then a case of combining the juice and sugar mixtures, allowing to settle for 15 minutes, straining with a muslin cloth and bottling.
Oh, and most of all, enjoying your lime cordial!
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Lime Cordial
Ingredients
- 6-8 limes (they should weigh around 500 grams in total)
- 2 teaspoons tartaric acid
- 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Juice limes (they should yield about 200-250ml of juice). Add tartaric acid and stir to combine.
- Use a fine grater to get zest from two of the limes.
- Add sugar, zest and water to a saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just starts to simmer. This should take about 5 minutes. Remove mixture immediately once it starts to simmer.
- Pour sugar mixture over lime juice and leave for 15 minutes.
- Strain mixture using a muslin cloth, pour into a bottle and place the lid on the bottle.
- Allow to cool and store in the pantry for up to 12 months. Or pop it in the fridge to enjoy immediately.
- Enjoy mixed with water or soda water, using 1 part cordial and 4 or 5 parts water.
